Ode to Oland

Yep, I use the Oland tool so much that I've made a 2nd set in 3/8".... Sometimes, it's just the tool to use and nothing else quite works..

I usually have 2 or 3 of each size handy and sharpen them all at the same time..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Gerald Ross wrote: : I was rough hollowing a sweetgum bowl when about 1/2 inch deep I heard : and felt a whop-whop. Stopped the lathe and there was a cross section : of an 8 penny nail. My Benjamin's Worst bowl gouge had a couple of : notches in it. So I gets out my oland tool with the 1/4 inch tool : steel tip and continues the hollowing. When there was no more nail I : checked the edge of the tool. Still sharp and no notches.

Any idea why? The BB tools are HSS. What sort of tip did you have in the Oland tool? All the oland tool roll-yer-own instructions I've seen use HSS as well.

-- Andy Barss

Maybe that the oland tip is sharpened at a more obtuse angle. Maybe it is a different type steel.

I'll bet on #2. In Alan Lacer's metallurgy article last year he found that one BB chisel (bought from Penn State) was M2 steel, while one bought off eBay was not. I've since heard that many Chinese made HSS steel chisels are M1 (ie not up to M2 standards)

I hope you weren't surprised. :)

The next better material - harder to get in large bars I suspect - is M42 - It is harder and stronger yet.

M1 is likely used on the grasses and light woods in China. Grasses - bamboo...

M2 is a metal cutting steel like M42. It is used in wood for the tough ones - those with silica.

I turn wood and metal and machine metal.

There are bowl gouges with short blunt edges while there is a fingernail cut with long cutting/shearing edges.

Mart> >

Every cut Bamboo, tough and gritty. Almost as bad as Rattan (I get sparks off Rattan!!!!)

D-way Tools uses M42. So far I like the quality

In my experience, the Oland tip survives more abuse because of the cutting angle, the narrow profile and the fact that it's basically a small, thick scraper.. A bowl gouge has a flute and thin cutting edge and while it produces fine shavings, it's also much more prone to dulling and nicking, IMO..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Bill, you seem to think we do what most of us don't - hardly anyone is using carbide for Oland tools - we virtually all use HSS metalcutting lathe tool bits, with the occasional foray into colbalt HSS. Carbide is only of vary limited use in this application, and does not get used much because of that - it does not get as sharp, it's more brittle, etc. You might be able to bull through some low-grade rough cuts with it where it not getting as dull as fast (after starting out duller than the HSS) was of use, but sharp wins 99% of the time, so sharpening a HSS bit as needed is the more common approach. Heck, I have a few plain carbon tools that are useful because I can get them (or think I can) a tiny bit sharper than HSS, and for the time that lasts, they can do things I need done, better than HSS.

aaah, I guess I misunderstood the discussion - somehow I understood that carbide was used because it was "cutting through nails" - maybe I misread. Anyway, I happen to agree with you RE tool steel - the softer steels (specifically carbon steel) will take a finer edge - you can probably prove this to yourself with a microscope, but you can certainly ell it making a finsh cut - so just like you, I keep a few carbon steel tools around for when I just can't get a decent finsh cut with the fancy alloy stuff.

Well... per a discussion with a co-worker (MS Materials, PE, etc) and other articles I have read. The "theory" that HCS can get a finer edge then HSS (or Carbide, or....) is a myth.

It is true it's -easier- to get a finer edge on a softer "tool steel" then a harder one. But the edge on the harder steel lasts longer.

As an example look at the micro-photo's in the spring (or was it winter) issue of the American Woodturner

Unless they are concrete nails, HSS (or hardened plain carbon) cuts nails (unhardened mild steel) perfectly well. I'll admit to being a bit amazed when I found (early in my machine tool work) that you could cut steel with steel, but by far the majority of work for a long time was done (and in most hobby shops still is done) precisely that way - hardened tool steel being a bit of a different animal than non-hardened steel.

Concrete nails are a great source of pre-hardened steel for making micro tools by grinding...

....."the Oland tip survives more abuse because of the cutting

I too agree with Mac and Darrell about the cutting angle of the Oland. The direction of the forces put on the the tool, based on the cutting angle, have a much greater crossectional area supporting the cutting edge as compared with a typical scraper where the cutting angle and forces can be almost perpendicular to the tool and so offers little material behind the cutting edge.

And those nasty case hardened cement nails... recently tried to cut- off those things using a saws-all. Couldn't do it. Just got smoke and a dull blade. The nails were about 60+ years old. Seems like they'd be hard to shape into a turning bit using a grinder but... guess you've already proven that.

Thanks to all for keeping this group going!! june, in Denver